Annual Open Letter to the People of Purdue from
Mitch Daniels
January 2017
I enjoyed the great good fortune of knowing Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, pioneer
aviator and war hero, during the last few years of his life. The general is best
remembered for conceiving and pulling off the impossibly audacious air raid
of Tokyo just months after Pearl Harbor, lifting American morale and
signaling to the Japanese that they had chosen the wrong foe for their sneak
attack.
But long before his World War II exploits, Jimmy Doolittle was perhaps the
nation’s most innovative developer of the young field of manned flight. A
serious scholar as well as a brave pilot, he studied at MIT between the wars.
He became the first pilot to fly blind, by instruments alone, and developed
the concept of high-octane fuel. He led the growth of aviation technology
through both thought and deed; he would have made a perfect Boilermaker.
The general has been on my mind lately because of the nickname he
acquired during his storied career. He was called “the master of the
calculated risk." Although he took chances, often life-threatening ones, they
were never merely reckless or exhibitionist. Rather, his innovations were
always preceded by careful analysis that, in his considered judgment,
justified the risks he undertook, in pursuit of the breakthroughs and progress
he envisioned.
As 2017 opens at Purdue, we face a number of decisions that, while trivial
compared to the mortal dangers Doolittle confronted, involve substantial risk
of either misjudgment or outright failure. In each case, we have tried to think
over the options carefully, and examined the risks of inaction alongside the
odds of success. Several of the items in this year’s letter fall into this
category of “calculated risk”; its readers are invited to make their own
calculations.
Not so long ago, there was essentially zero risk in public higher education.
Dollars flowed in steadily growing amounts from state treasuries, and were
augmented by an apparently limitless ability to raise tuition and fees every
year. No one questioned the value of a college diploma, nor whether too
many young people were pursuing one.
That’s all over. During 2016, the skeptical trends of recent years intensified.
Almost half of Americans now doubt that a higher education is a good
investment, and nearly 60% say a college education is no longer necessary to
a person’s success.i Escalating costs are the main driver of these concerns:
75 to 90% of freshmen nationally say that cost was a major factor in their
college choice, and one-quarter to one-third said they could not afford their
first choice.ii 44% of U.S. citizens label colleges “wasteful and inefficient.”iii
Total attendance at public colleges fell again, by 1%. At the University of
Missouri, with campus disruption playing a part, the drop was a calamitous
25% in entering freshmen.iv
Meanwhile, alternatives to the traditional higher ed model continued to
expand. Massive open online course enrollments, better known as MOOCs,
increased from 35 million to 58 million this past year.v Virtual certificates
and badges are now being accepted as credentials at a growing number of
companies. Corporations like UPS and GE now offer employees thousands
of internally taught courses outside of traditional higher education.
Predictions persist of a sectoral disruption akin to that which hit the
newspaper, photography, department store, record and bookstore businesses
and others. One particularly pungent critique forecast that residential
colleges would become “the debutante cotillion of the 21st Century,” a
quaint artifact of enduring attraction only to a cloistered, almost irrelevant
few.
At Purdue, we do not discount these alarming possibilities, but we do not
accept their inevitability. We view the current challenges to higher ed as real
and the criticisms as in many cases legitimate. We believe that a posture of
denial, obstinately insisting on the superiority of the model just as it is,
would be both irresponsible and dangerous.
i
Public Agenda. "Public Opinion on Higher Education." Public Opinion on Higher Education. 12 Sept. 2016.
HERI. “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2015”. 2015
iii
Public Agenda. 2016.
iv
Columbia Daily Tribune. "Other Missouri Universities Gain Enrollment as MU Numbers Drop." 27 Aug. 2016
v
Class Central. “By the Numbers: MOOCs in 2016." 25 Dec. 2016.
ii
But neither do we accept that the residential university experience is
destined for the creative destruction boneyard. Modernized and enhanced,
we believe strongly that Purdue and its sister schools can still offer a
compelling case to ambitious and talented young people decades from now.
That case must be built around provable, unquestionable value that cannot
be replicated in even the most advanced alternative modes.
The rest of this letter summarizes a few of the actions Purdue is taking to
deliver these new dimensions of value. Most do involve an element of
uncertainty; we must hope that, like Gen. Doolittle, we have calculated the
risks wisely and can carry out our ideas skillfully.
Academic rigor and integrity
Scholars and employers alike have detected a steady weakening of academic
rigor over recent decades. Today’s college students report an average weekly
work load only half that reported in the 1960s.vi A proliferation of narrow
“micro” courses of little apparent difficulty or usefulness, with titles like
“Tree Climbing,” “Witchcraft and Possession,” “Ice Cream 101,” and
“Lawn Boy Meets Valley Girl” (none of these are Purdue examples!) often
leads to understandable mockery.
Maybe most concerning,
average grades across U.S.
institutions have climbed to
levels where it is impossible
to tell which students are
truly outstanding or well
prepared. The average term
GPA at many private
universities such as Vassar
and Swarthmore is
approaching 3.60. At public
schools like the University
of Michigan and the University of Virginia it is around 3.35.vii And
exacerbating the situation is clear evidence that many of the grades being
received were not earned fairly, but were the product of cheating: according
vi
Babcock, Phillip, and Mindy Marks. “Leisure College, USA The Decline in Student Study Time.” American
Enterprise Institute., 5 Aug. 2010
vii
Rojstaczer, Stuart. Gradeinflation.com. 2016.
to the international center for academic integrity, some 68% of
undergraduates nationwide admit to cheating on tests or writing
assignments.viii
From the trend of declining rigor, Purdue has historically stood apart. The
average GPA among our students continues to run substantially below all
national and peer averages. Still, our average has risen considerably over the
last couple decades.
Much, but it is not clear all, of the increase is directly attributable to the
ever-higher caliber of our entering students and the impact of recent
investments in student success initiatives.
Not infrequently, students express to me the fear that they will suffer
competitively when seeking jobs vs. students who attended more lenient
schools. Acknowledging this possibility, we still hold that a relatively tough
curriculum, with tough assessment standards, serves both our students and
their eventual employers well. Our job placement rates (2% unemployment
for last year’s graduates), and consistent anecdotal testimony from
companies recruiting on our campus, fortifies this conviction. The
performance of Purdue students on licensing exams offers more proof, with
Purdue passage rates beating the national rate on 11 out of 11 of the nation’s
most significant exams.
Our faculty, under the auspices of the University Senate, has undertaken a
look at the status of rigor at Purdue. They are considering three questions: 1)
Is a Purdue degree truly harder to earn than degrees at most other schools?
2) If so, do we believe that is a desirable situation and goal? 3) If so, what
can be done across a university of ten colleges and more than 2,000 faculty
to maintain that rigor?
Simultaneously, another Senate inquiry is looking into the state of academic
integrity on our campus. I am pleased to report that our students, including
our student government leadership, have shown an interest in this same
subject and are adding their insights and suggestions.
The widespread perception that many college diplomas have been cheapened
is one reason for the disturbingly negative attitudes now directed at our
viii
International Center for Academic Integrity. 2016.
sector. Any risks a policy of greater rigor may entail seem well worth
running to preserve the high credibility of a Purdue education.
National Pass Rate
All Major National Exams
84%
Speech, Language Pathology
85%
Registered Nurse
86%
Doctor of Audiology
70%
Fundamentals of Engineering
76%
# of exams Purdue beat the national pass rate: 11 of 11
Purdue Pass Rate
96%
100%
95%
100%
95.1%
On-campus living
This fall, boosted by our biggest freshman class in many years, a near-record
number of students arrived at West Lafayette. Moreover, what is likely a
record percentage of those more than 30,000 students are residing within our
campus boundaries. This is very much by design.
At a time when so many voices and options are inviting young people to find
alternatives to the traditional residential experience, we recognize the risks
of creating more university-sponsored housing. We have chosen to accept
that risk for one overriding reason: the evidence that students who live on
campus are more likely to succeed academically than those who do not.
Therefore we have opened
our 800-bed Honors
College and the 300-bed
Third Street Suites.
Substantial new housing,
including replacement
housing aimed at graduate
students along State Street,
is in the offing. Including
co-op and Greek
organizations, we already
have more than half our
undergrads living within
the campus perimeter, with the goal of raising that percentage measurably
over the next few years.
We have no intentions of entering the “amenities arms race” by building
country club-like facilities. Our designs for new or retrofitted housing
emphasize “academicizing” features such as study areas and faculty
accommodations. Already, one-third of our freshmen opt for “learning
communities” where an entire floor or living area is filled with students from
the same college or discipline, who can support each other and for whom
additional educational programming can be provided.
If in fact online education supplants some or even all of the traditional fouryear, on-campus norm, these investments may look very foolish years from
now. But we believe that well-conceived living arrangements can add
intellectual growth possibilities that will be hard for even the most dazzling
future technology to deliver in a student’s basement at home.
State Street
We are placing another bet on the continued viability of the residential
model in our joint venture with the City of West Lafayette to transform the
State Street corridor, and to create one of the nation’s first university-based
“innovation districts.” The narrowing and beautification of State Street, all
the way from our new “front door” on the 231 bypass on the west to the
Wabash River on the east, can bring our campus together and into a new
closeness with our host community.
The innovation district concept contemplates a large area of residential,
commercial, and recreational spaces, adjacent to the research, cultural, and
human resources assets of a top-tier research university like ours. If it works,
it will attract new business investment similar in scale and sophistication to
the area’s new GE jet engine plant. One day the land near and around our
airport could be home to exciting businesses working with our researchers
and employing our graduates, many of whom might be living within a walk
or bike ride from their place of work.
Of course, that’s the upside. Like other of our initiatives, there is also the
chance that an evolution (or revolution) away from the higher ed we have
known could render the concept obsolete before it takes shape. But if we
seek to recruit the finest faculty, and the finest students in the world to West
Lafayette, then aggressive action to develop the most attractive possible
living environment seems like a risk reasonably well-calculated.
Value beyond the classroom
As I wrote in last year’s
letter, Purdue has exchanged
any “weed ’em out”
mentality for a “help ’em
out” commitment to the
success of every student we
admit. To that end, we
continue to expand our
tutoring and supplemental
instruction offerings, and are
building applications that
notify individual students of
opportunities for help, and
of potential challenges in
their course selections or
study habits.
Our faculty and trustees
took steps this year to
enhance the Purdue academic experience. Taking note of data from a host of
studies including our own Gallup-Purdue Index, they added incentives to
incorporate personal mentoring and undergraduate research into the
university’s tenure and promotion policy. Along with relevant internships,
these activities strengthen the performance and career readiness of
graduates, and we intend to be a leader in making them a part of every
Boilermaker’s time at Purdue. The investments involved are not
insignificant, but again we see the prospect of adding value hard to replicate
in some virtual or remote fashion.
Controlling the denominator
However great the academic value we deliver, half of life’s fundamental
value calculations always involve cost. By now, Purdue’s commitment to
control as best we can the cost we charge for our educational product is
pretty well established. This coming fall, we will enter our fifth consecutive
year without a tuition increase on any student while room and board rates,
which have been reduced from four years ago, will also stay flat. As a result
of such decisions, Purdue is the only research university in the country that
is less expensive to attend today than in the fall of 2012.
This policy, too, carried with it an element of risk, or so we were told at its
inception, which followed 36 straight years of increases. There were those
who feared financial problems without the annual price hike. More
intriguing was the argument that restraint in our student charges would
signal a lack of quality, and might injure our marketplace reputation.
Happily, neither of these
concerns has proven valid.
Fiscally, our university is
more solid than it already
was, with ample funds in
reserve should setbacks
occur. We have added to
our faculty, which is larger
than it has ever been, and
we have not done so “on
the cheap”; in fact, we are
at the top end of American
universities in our ratio of
tenured/tenure-track to contingent faculty. Our pay raises have been highly
competitive against all peer groups.
Public University
Nebraska
Instructors that are Tenured or Tenure Track
76%
Rank
1
Georgia Tech
Purdue
UC Santa Barbara
Iowa State
Illinois
Florida
Washington
Arizona
North Carolina
75%
75%
73%
71%
71%
69%
64%
64%
62%
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
As for our “brand,” the last few years have brought consecutive records in
applications, reaching 48,000 for this year’s freshman class. That demand
level produced, as noted, the largest class in many years, while our student
success programs are keeping more of our current Boilermakers with us and
contributing tuition for another year.
"We have added to our faculty, which is larger than it has ever been, and we
have not done so 'on the cheap' ..."
FY 2014-16 Change
Tenure & Tenure Track
+ 83
Lecturers
+ 42
Research, Clinical, Post Doc
+ 110
Adjunct
- 15
Change
% Change
Total Faculty Increase
220
6.97%
In the newly hazardous environment described above, we take nothing for
granted, and each year’s tuition/fees decisions are among the most important
and sensitive that our trustees make. But more than finances are at stake
here.
We never forget Purdue’s land-grant mission, as noble and real today as it
was at our creation a century and a half ago. We exist to spread the benefits
of higher education to all young people, of all income levels, who have the
ability and the work ethic to meet our standards and fulfill our requirements.
We are gratified that our cost-control policy has worked well from an
operational standpoint. But it is our objective to remain accessible to all that
motivates us in this endeavor, and while we obviously cannot continue our
tuition freeze indefinitely, affordability will remain our guiding principle.
Which brings me to one final risk, probably the largest of those we have
chosen to run currently.
Purdue Polytechnic High School
We cannot be the university we aspire to be unless we enroll each year a
genuine cross-section of Indiana young people, and give them the first-class
preparation for life a Purdue education so provably provides. Regrettably,
too many Hoosier school systems are not producing nearly enough Purdueready graduates. The shortfalls are especially grievous among firstgeneration, low-income, and minority students.
In all recent years, the total number of Indiana African-American high
school graduates with GPAs and standardized test scores at even the mean of
Purdue freshmen has ranged around 100. In the state’s largest school district,
the Indianapolis Public Schools, the total number of students of all
backgrounds Purdue was able to admit for the class of 2020 was 26 of whom
12 accepted. We simply cannot wait on the K-12 system to improve its
results dramatically enough to rectify this intolerable situation.
As you may have heard, we
have decided to attempt direct
action, by establishing a
Purdue-sponsored charter
high school in inner-city
Indianapolis. The Purdue
Polytechnic High School will
be patterned after our highly
innovative new Polytechnic
Institute at West Lafayette,
the redesigned and renamed
College of Technology. At the
high school, students will find
a STEM-based curriculum,
team-taught and very “hands
on,” featuring industry-sponsored projects and emphasizing the development
of problem-solving skills.
The assignment we have given the school’s leaders is a daunting one: to take
14-year-old students, many of whom are sure to be somewhat behind a
college-preparatory schedule, and graduate them four years later qualified
for admission to Purdue. Even with all the volunteer tutors, industry
involvement, and financial contributions we can muster, this is a high-risk
undertaking by any measure. It’s nothing our university, or perhaps any
university, has ever done before. But we feel we must try.
And if we succeed, consider the possibilities. The Polytechnic Institute
already has 10 technology centers in operation around the state. If our people
can make the Indianapolis high school work, each of these could one day be
the site of another high school. Imagine a network of such schools, each
tailored to the needs of low-income students and to the requirements of
today’s economy, creating a pipeline of opportunity for hundreds of future
Boilermakers who otherwise would never make it to Purdue. That’s a big
risk, but one well worth running.
With all the dangers, or maybe because of them, it’s an exhilarating time to
be at Purdue, and in higher education generally. American colleges and
universities remain the best in the world, and indispensable assets for a
nation that wishes to maintain leadership in today’s knowledge-based world.
If new approaches are required to preserve and expand their viability, then
by all means let’s identify and pursue them. Perhaps Purdue, true to its
tradition of putting thought into action, can even lead in implementing them.
Change is rarely risk-free, but who better to analyze and calculate those risks
than Boilermakers! In hopes that we are calculating wisely, and that my
friend Gen. Doolittle would approve, I wish you a great 2017.
Hail Purdue!
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.
President